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06 December 2011

Cafe d'Asie: Buffet at The Bellevue Hotel

Cafe d'Acie: Buffet at The Bellevue Hotel
Manila Foodistas goes to Alabang
November 28, 2011
Written by Tiffy | Photos by Danne

When foreigners ask you what Filipinos do for Christmas, what do we answer? Eat. There's no denying it. I bet you most of us have given up on the idea of not gaining weight this holiday season.

Last week, the Manila Foodistas were invited to head to Alabang to visit the Bellevue Hotel. It was the first time that we were invited to a hotel to taste its food. We opted for lunch on a weekday since, aside from Nicole, we have never been to Alabang.

Getting there was easier than any of us expected: forty-five minutes after leaving Ortigas, and it's right across Festival Mall!

Are you ready to try something new this season?

Sitting and waiting in the lobby, we realized: it was a Monday and we're away from the buzz of Metro Manila.

Cafe d'Acie is located at the second floor of The Bellevue's buffet.

We had lunch with Ms. Jehn Domingo, who turned out to have graduated from UP Los Baños so we instantly felt a connection with her!

From when Cafe d'Acie opened, it has come a long way (they used to serve only a table of food with few selections). Now, they have different sections catering to different kinds of cuisine--from Chinese, to Mongolian, and more.

And the food that they serve changes every so often so it's never the same old thing. Well, except for some items like the salmon, which, we heard, is the one thing that Ms. Jehn always haves when she has her employee meal.

We also met Chef Mark Biddle, who was gracious enough to step out of the kitchen to meet with us. After being introduced, with a big smile on his face, he went, "Oh, yeah! I saw your blog!" and I think we were all thinking, oh crap, which ones of our nonsense posts did he see?

Chef Mark Biddle carving the roast beef. It was absolutely delicious. I ate a huge chunk of it.

I wonder if he would dress as Santa this Christmas--I would love to see it!

Salad Bar. Their salad bar had asparagus, eggs, carrots, onions, corn, legumes and of course, fresh greens. And if you don't want to make your own salad, you can request for one to be served to your table. Nicole loved the Caesar salad they served us - so fresh!

Cold cuts. According to Nicole, this is perfect for those who crave for Spanish tapas and/or something European.

Fresh selection of seafood. Danne and I particularly loved their mussels. Definitely fresh and awesome with lemon.

Sushi and Sashimi. The ones on the right are not your usual maki--the outer layer is sprinkled with crushed nachos. Nicole was pretty excited about how different it is.
I, however, didn't like it. I think that it would've been okay had the contents of the maki complemented the taste of the nachos. Their sushi is pretty plain and the ingredients used not all that good. So maybe just stick to the salad and their sashimi selection?

Mongolian

Chinese -- they also had dimsum!

Crepe station

Grilling Station

You can ask them to cook you all sorts of things--ask the people manning the station what they would recommend and what is available. Apparently, they have a rotation of food from their a la carte menu that they also serve in their buffet.

Really--if you don't know what to order, leave it to the experts! The sous chef, Chef Bong Andaca, was kind enough to make this for us, and intentionally gave us a smaller servings because he was afraid that we might fill up too easily that we wouldn't be able to eat more of the rest--SO SWEET. I wanted to hug him right then and there.

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding served! Cafe d'Acie is said to have the best bread pudding in town. And we agree. Bread pudding tastes like custard but with a thicker consistency.

Nicole, our resident health freak. They have a pretty impressive selection of cheese and nuts too. Nicole then recounted her experiences in Spain and how they drank wine with everything!

You have no idea just how happy Danne and I were with the selection of sweets that they had! The one by the bear's ear is mango creme brulee! It was so yummy that Danne finished one by herself while Nicole and I shared!

Yummy and creamy--with a hint of what probably is rum.

Their lemon squares were Nicole's favorite! And Danne liked how juicy the strawberries are.

We didn't know most of what we were eating because the food weren't labeled. And we were told that it's because they often change what they serve.

The Cafe d'Acie buffet goes for Php 1,307 per person. This November, they treated their guests to a discounted price of Php 973 per person.

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